A Picture-perfect Setting For Fundraiser

May 24, 2008|By MARYELLEN FILLO

It was the quintessential French almost-summer evening. Fine wine, gourmet food, lushly flowered grounds filled with beautiful people sipping champagne - a scene worthy of a great impressionist painting. Monet would have approved.

That was the scene at the Hill-Stead Museum's "Monet in May" dinner auction, an annual event that has become so popular, it had the neighbors practically sneaking through the fence to be part of it.

"We live at the end of the museum driveway, so we know when there is a party going on," said Debbie Klene, whose husband, Roger Klene, is an honorary governor on the museum's board of governors. "But we did pay for our tickets."

Other neighbors who didn't have far to walk were David Kesselman and Scot Coughlin, who split their time between homes in New York City and the one down the street from Hill-Stead.

"They could just climb the fence to get here," said J ane Edwards, a co-chairwoman of the event's fundraising auction. "But they always come in special for this."

Despite breaks of sun amid the on-again, off-again rain, and even though things were under control, thanks to a huge white tent, Kathy Jannuzzi, was far more interested in the sky than in the champagne she was holding.

"If Monet were here, the one thing he probably would not be worried about is the weather, like I am right now," said Jannuzzi, who has chaired the event several times and who this year made sure there were plenty of high-end auction items. "I'm just hoping we dodged the bullet on the rain."

"I don't care about the weather," said Melissa Adams of Old Lyme, who was invited to attend at the last minute. "It's a holiday weekend; it's supposed to get warm. And look at this place . . . it's gorgeous."